JOINING A BOYBAND SEARCH CALLED TO THE TOP
I am a big fan of boybands.
As in.
During my teenage years (when the term boyband wasn’t really
that popular, if I remember it right), I was into boybands just like a lot of
my female and gay classmates.
I was a fan of a lot of them: Backstreet Boys, N’SYNC,
Boyzone, 98 Degrees, Code Red, Plus One, O Town, 3T, Human Nature, 5ive, The
Moffats, Hanson, All 4 One, Take That, BBMak, Westlife – just to name some. I
bought their cassette tapes/CDs, tuned in to MTV and Channel [V] to watch and
even record their music videos, bought magazines featuring them, and watched
their concerts here.
I think I was into them a little more than most of my peers.
This was because I wanted a career in music.
As in I wanted to be part of a boyband.
I wasn’t just a fan of these cute and talented singers; I
wanted to be like them, too.
And so I found myself listening to and learning all their
songs, released or not. I studied the structure of their songs, the delegation
of parts, the usual and not-so-usual topics, the patterns when releasing
singles.
I also became familiar with the in demand songwriters and
producers they worked with (Max Martin, Soulshock and Karlin, etc.), trends in
album art, plus other things like the importance of branding, imaging, logos, and choreography.
So when GMA 7 announced they were forming a boyband through
a show called To The Top, I was excited because I’ve always wanted to form my
own vocal group and I’ve always wanted to form and manage a boyband and a girl
group. I should learn a lot of things from the show, I thought.
I got even more excited when my boss one day invited an
officemate and I to help him judge in one episode together with Joshua Zamora
and Kuh Ledesma. We basically had to watch the performances of the three
competing groups and rank them.
Kuh and I had different opinions on the contestants’
performances and I just loved it when she told me that after being in the
industry for 37 years (37 nga ba?), she sure knows who can and can’t sing. Good
TV moment there, Speidi would be proud.
A week after, I judged again, this time together with Jett
Pangan and Ryan Cayabyab.
Now I love Mr. C because, well, he is Mr. C! I met
him a long, long time ago, when I auditioned for Smokey Mountain. Of course, I
just had to remind him.
To The Top ended last week and I am suffering from
separation anxiety. Watching the show on Saturday and Sunday nights became a
habit. I also enjoyed live tweeting and exchanging tweets with some of the contestants
(some of them recognized me as a guest judge and as someone from GMA Artist
Center).
The good thing is that the boys are now with us.
I got to meet the winners – Miko M, Mico C, Adrian, Louie,
and Joshua – just last week, as in for the very first time! I had coffee with
them and it was nice to get to know them, of course. I asked them about their
musical influences and the genres they like. I also asked about their love
life!
I ended up giving them tips, as well, and showing them an
interesting music video of another boyband.
The next day, I saw them again. My officemates and I were
having a planning session and the boys dropped by to sing an original song
called Paggising. Intro pa lang and I was sold! Harmony was great, Miko M’s
runs were amazing. The whole song is pretty catchy and it is not forgettable so
I hope a studio version becomes available soon so that you guys can listen to
it.
By the way, the boys are now called T.O.P. but we haven’t
finalized what the letters mean.
Transfer of Payment? Tower of Power? Throes of Passion???
We’re looking at either Top One Project or
Tunay|Orihinal|Pinoy. What do you think?
As for the rest of the To The Top boys, don’t be sad because
they are also with us and we do have plans for them so you will still see Cholo
dela Cruz, Lance Busa, Edric Ulang, Lharby Policarpio, and the others. Who
knows, maybe they’re really meant to be solo singers and not boyband members,
di ba?
As for my dreams of being a member of a boyband, I have
given up on that already so you won’t see me doing choreographed moves while
blending with others.
Like I said, maybe some people are meant to be solo singers
and not boyband members nga, di ba??? ;)